Diner lands in hot water after racist 'fake' social media post goes viral

NORWALK (WTIC) -- Owners of a Norwalk diner believe they were targeted by an online hoax and the results have gone viral. Now, a police investigation is underway to find out who is responsible.

Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Jack Lewannounced that Harriet Tubman will boot Andrew Jackson from the $20. Soon after the news spread, someone tweeted from @PennysNorwalk, a twitter account that appeared to represent Penny's Diner III, "We won't be accepting 20's anymore - and it's not because #HarrietTubman is a woman."

Another tweet said "Quick Poll: who is this? @MichelleObama, #HarrietTubman or @officialmotombo (Dikembe Mutombo) #AllLookTheSame."

Image: WTIC

The Twitter account has since been deleted.

Owners of Penny's Diner told police they do not operate that Twitter account and they filed a formal complaint to find out who does. The Norwalk Police Department is waiting for a judge's approval to investigate the Twitter account.

FOX 61 reached out to Twitter to try and confirm whether Penny's Diner III created and posted from the Twitter account in question, but Twitter would not comment.

"40-some odd years we've been here. If we were bigots, people would know it," said John Kydes, longtime manager of Penny's Diner III. "We don't have a Facebook account. We don't have a Twitter account. We don't maintain a webpage for this diner."